Bug collector shorts - Kids Clothes Week

There's been plenty happening around here - its pretty much kids clothes week every week, just not much blogging as usual. However I've been inspired by some fabric and have finally delivered. I bought some awesome bug patterned fabric a while ago, chosen by my 3yo and have been thinking about making them into the ultimate bug collector shorts for him.

Take a basic shorts pattern - Ottobre 3/2010 pattern #13

And "bug them up"!

I shortened the pattern (they are bermudas and much too long for my 3yo). Then I added enough tags, pockets and holders for all the things a budding bug collector might need.

• magnifying glass for seeing all those bug details up nice and close
• mini LED torch for seeing into those dark corners
• thermometer and compass for, well, just cause they are cool things to have.
• a spot for a notebook and pencil for writing up notes and drawing pictures of all the interesting things we find.

  

The fabric is quite a sturdy duck canvas (I think) with denim details on the front pockets. All the gadgets are clipped on so can be clipped off for washing (although I imagine they'll end up in the wash eventually so will need replacing...) 
We gave them a little spin around the backyard this afternoon and they proved to work pretty well. 

One happy 3yo with a new outdoor activity!

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Kids Clothes Week - Day 6 - the morning after

Another successful couple of days (blogging every day was never going to happen for me).

The end of day 6 saw a number of projects finished! Here's the "morning after" shot with a little pile of neatly folded completed pieces!

The rose cord pinafore was fitted and finished! The pattern is Ottobre 4/2012 #29. Its a great dress, it was really quick to put together - if you don't run out of topstitch thread... I think I'll be making more of these. It looks very cute on too, although I don't have pics of it on. I have a LS tee and matching legging to make too so this will be an entire outfit, but they'll be left for another week.

"Mum, why are you sticky taping my dress to the cupboard?"

"Well dear, everyone seems to be doing it these days"...

Good question.

The bodice is lined with really nice green drill. I love the little sneak peaks you'll get of it when she's wearing it.

The pockets too. I drew grey lines to guide my stitching line for the pockets. That'll come off in the wash. Hopefully.

Then I finished two winter tops for the boy. This one we started together at the beginning of the KCW week, we painted the spots on a skivvy. Then I removed the skivvy neck and replaced it with green ribbing to match the spots.

Someone was pretty happy with it. Particularly as now it goes with his favourite camo pants I made here. 

I finished this top in a grey and purple stripe. The pattern is Ottobre 1/2013 #20. I like how the ribbing goes along the shoulder seams, it looks good. The fabric (can't remember where I bought it from) was atrocious to sew and consequently the bottom hem looks awful. I couldn't stitch it with my twin needles as it kept missing stitches and getting caught. Zig zag was the only thing that worked and I quite like the finished look of a zig zag, but it still doesn't look great, perhaps I should unpick and finish the seam off without using a contrast colour.

I also finished a jumper that I started making a few weeks ago. Its Ottobre 6/2012 #14. I love how this jumper turned out (sort of - see below) and the neck is very cool. More ukulele/guitars for a ukulele lovin' boy.

Although I love the style, and the pattern was surprisingly easy to follow, I stuffed up quite a few things in the making, ending up with the "interesting" feature stitch lines...

I think it was meant for a t shirt knit fabric as when I finished it and it was way too tight. It was a slim fit, but certainly didn't fit my slim boy. So I added a piece to the width, running from the sleeve to the bottom hem. Not super stylish, but it worked.

Somehow I managed to sew the front to the back, overlocked and topstitched before I finished. Oops. Instead of unpicking I cut an extra seem in on the back shoulder to fit it properly saround the neck (its a bit confusing, I got very confused). Now it fits him nicely and sits well so at least it'll get worn.

So its been a successful Kids Clothes Week for me, not sure if there'll be any action tonight, but I'm pretty happy with my completed pieces to date!

Kids Clothes Week ~ Day 4 ~ the morning after

The hangover from KCW day 4. On the sewing desk.

Didn't get around to blogging yesterday's picture. I managed to squeeze in an hour sewing but the morning after shot never happened...

But It didn't look too much different from this. I stalled on finishing the rose print pinafore as I've run out of my top stitching colour - a trip to the shops today. Its there nearly finished, showing off the lovely green lining. How unfortunate you won't see it much when its on. Hoping for some finished photos of this project tomorrow.

Otherwise I've started some knit projects. A couple of pairs of leggings for the girl, and a stripey LS tee for the boy. Lots of fun ahead attaching binding (fingers crossed it comes up well - I'm a bit hit and miss with binding...) and twin needle stitching.

Here's to KCW Day 5!!

Kids Clothes Week ~ Day 2 ~ the morning after

The hangover from Day 2 of KCW shows a little less constructive a day 1. I think there was about an hour spent (maybe a little more). This was what my sewing desk looked like when I got up in the morning after KCW Day 2.

 

Not that much different from yesterday, but yes there was progress on the rose cord pinafore dress.

But the big achievement was the snowflake dress was finished! Hooray.

The dress is from Ottobre 6/2011 #13 Vilmariina dress. I've had the snowflake fabric for ages and I think it comes up really nicely in this dress. Wasn't overly happy with how I placed the edge print at the hem of the dress, but its not that dire.

The view from the back

The front yoke was done with tucks. I think the fabric I chose for the yoke is a bit too white contrasty, I might try and dye it somehow. I sewed the half circle cut out from the neck to add colour to a bare bit of the fabric, but its note quite enough. I've also just had some labels made up which are good too as now hubby and Nanna can work out which is front and back on items I've made! Obviously I haven't got around to trimming all the loose threads yet...

The dress has lovely puffed sleeves which are pulled in at the upper arm with elasticised shirring, and then again at the wrist with the contrast fabric.

Now to get started on KCW Day 3!

Kids Clothes Week ~ Day 1 ~ The morning after.

So I've decided to partake in the Kids Clothes Week, I've followed this for years, but this is the first time I've been game to join in.

Although they're doing Spring over there, I'll be preparing for the Australian Winter season here. Actually, I've been preparing for this for a few weeks. I've had curtains on the go for the past little while, but have been tracing and cutting patterns when I've found a spare moment, so I actually have a bit of a pile ready to start sewing.

So I decided to approach this with a series of "hangover" shots, or pics taken the next morning (in natural light) to see what's been achieved the night before, on a day by day basis. Provided I'm able to sew every night (hopefully so) AND blog every day (much less likely). However last night I was lucky enough to fit in more than an hour and this was my sewing desk hangover after KCW Day 1.

Snowflake dress nearly, nearly, nearly finished.

A rose cord pinafore dress semi started (this was cut out way earlier, and I only managed to edge a couple of pieces ready for next stage of sewing). I tried to be a bit more efficient in sewing by starting this project with the same pink cotton as I was using for the highlight sewing on the snowflake dress, but it didn't really help much. Sewing two patterns at once? That's asking for trouble.

And then I retired to the couch to spend some quality time with the hubby. And snuck in cutting out another pair of pants ready to sew (cheeky cheeky and I did get some sideways looks).
So all up, I was pretty happy with my KCW Day 1 effort. It took a whole day to get the blog post up, but at least I did it!

Then there was a bit of crafting that went on during the day too as part of a "engaging creatively with children and achieving something at the same time" activity. I kept a sticker sheet from a while ago, that the kids had peeled the stickers off. Thought it would made a good print stencil. So we stuck it on a LS tee like this.

I added a border of contact to protect the rest of the tee from accidents (this shiny bit), and let the boy paint!

 He had fun, I helped him with colour selection and we painted away together.

 Then we pulled away the stencil and...

Yeh it worked! (although I forgot to spin the pic before I uploaded it so its sideways). The tee is actually a skivvy (which I'm not keen on, so now I want to cut the neck off, add some ribbing and it will be ready for wear.

A very productive day all round!

Blending into the background

Somehow camo pants seemed to have kicked butt here lately.

I made a pair for the boy last year, due to be worn winter this year. Ottobre 4/2010 9. Pants with rib cuffs in green cord fabric, my second make of this pattern. Its a very wearable pattern (just realised my other pair never got blogged, will add that to my flashback list).

I really like this fabric and wondering if a cargo type dress for me is warranted for Winter?

Hard to see and my photos aren't the best. But there is knee detail, front pockets, back yoke and I did a tiny bit of red detailing in stitching and lining the front pockets.

The rib cuffs at the feet and waist make this pattern very comfortable (so I believe) and also allow for growing by folding the cuffs up to begin with and unfolding them as the wearer gets taller.

Then the little miss got a pair too in some very cool pink and purple animal camo cotton drill.

Ottobre 1/2011 13. Plum cargo pants, complete with side cargo pockets (tied with purple ribbon), front and back pockets and a fake fly - they are simply an elasticised waist so easy to pull on and off.

 Nice detail on the back yoke including some triple stitching detail which looks very effective.

She loves these (thank goodness!) and we had one wear out of them so far - but otherwise we are still  in our summer clothes. I know I'll be regretting it soon, but I've been working on the Winter wardrobes and I can't wait for the chilly weather to come so we can start wearing some of it!

The boy and the ukulele

So I got a bit excited and motivated by the Celebrete the Boy series by Made and Made by Rae. So this shirt was the result of my inspiration.

This one loves his ukulele and was really excited by this fabric I picked up recently.

I've also been spending a bit of time staring at my stash cupboard, dreaming up new outfits and fabric combinations as I stand, and rock, and pat the new baby to sleep, numerous times a day (its quite an enjoyable process actually and often I'm disappointed when he falls asleep and I have to leave and put him in his cot...)

Birch fabric ukuleles (OK, I know they are guitars but in our house all guitars are ukuleles at the moment). 100% organic fabric - nice. The pattern is Ottobre 4/2012 lumberjack polo shirt (#20). But I altered the pattern by splitting the front panel to add the feature fabric in. Teamed with some plain navy knit and mustard ribbing for the sleeves. The front placket was surprisingly pretty easy and looks very effective.   

A little bit 70's rocker (actually a whole lot 70's rocker  - excl. the chest hairs and beard) but I love the finished product, and so does the little man. He was quite happy modelling his new shirt, his red ukulele and singing "Sing a song of sixpence..."  

 Teamed with his ultra cool yellow jeans, this will be a good outfit for this winter.  I'm just a tad scared to wash it - I was so keen to make it, I didn't think to prewash the fabrics. Fingers crossed.

So. Its been a while.

Perhaps the date on my last post is incorrect. Or perhaps its been over 2 years since I last posted.

Really??

Really.

No long excuses. I've had enough of the guilty feelings and have decided my blog is worth coming back to as I love it for a record of all the great stuff I sew. As well as all the great connections and inspirations.

So I'm going to give it another crack...

For the record, a brief synopsis of the past 2 years:

We've been building and renovating. At various times I've had to pack up all things sewing and computerised as things have been demolished, rebuilt, demolished and rebuilt. My time has mostly been spent looking after the little-uns, painting, cleaning, painting, organising the renos, painting, and generally trying to stay sane. A few days of work here and there. Did I mention there was another baby too?

However we are nearly done and it has been worth the effort. Maybe a few pics might even turn up here.

And there has been a bit of time for sewing now and then (thank goodness, and part of the 'keeping sane' activities...). So here goes some of the stuff that has been sewn, worn and grown out of!

My last post was about jammies. So let's start with this summer's version. Easy raglan t-shirts with legging/shorts. All finished with binding so super easy. Jungle animals and tulips are good at brushing their teeth.

Last years winter jacket. Ottobre 6/2012 Frieda jacket. I didn't have a pre-made reversible fabric so I used a bright polka dot fleece and lined it with a cupcake cotton interlock.

 The binding around the edges gives it a nice finish.

The kimono sleeves meant  no fitting sleeve seams in and the extra bulk didn't matter for keeping warm in winter.  Here 'tis matched with the jacket made a few years ago (and the first item I posted on my blog!), now worn by the younger brother.

  Ottobre 1/2010 Retrokukka dress that was worn on her first day of kinder.

And the Viola pinafore dress from Ottobre 4/2009. In an owl cord print. This fabric was very cute, the pic doesn't show it off too well. Its currently sitting in my "to fix" pile as the zipper on the back broke. Might be worthwhile fixing as it just might still fit again this year.

That'll do for now. Some nice memories for me.

Hope to see you again soon...

Summer jammies and more

Summer has definitely hit here in Melbourne; its humid, its hot, its raining, its not. And above all its time to pack away the winter jammies and make new Summer ones!

So the past week has been exactly this. One pair completed, one pair half way done. Possibly to be completed tonight if I can draw myself away from cruising round blogworld, and actually get them finished.

Patterns used were Ottobre 6/2010 Villi shirt for the top - altered to be short sleeves - and (my favourite) 3/2009 Cassia shorts for the bottoms. A fairy was stolen from the bottoms fabric and embroidered on to the top.

I wasn't that impressed with my fabric matching choices for this one. The two fabrics are very cute in their own right; one fairies, butterflies etc and the other little dragonflies on purple. But together, combined with my choice of pattern, I think they look a little like a rugby top, albeit a pretty fairy one... I think next time I'll just coordinate them with plains.

The pants are rather cute though... The pattern was changed by added ribbing at the legs instead of elastic to make them more suitable for sleeping. And the little ones loves them, particularly the fairies.

Then, I also finally downloaded my photos and remembered this one: Ottobre 6/2009 Phoenix tunic. Made from cotton interlock instead of velveteen, so suited to summer as well as hopefully lasting through to winter.

Front detail. I added a red trim to the neck yoke, as the fabric was a bit busy so the yoke wasn't really visible until I did this. For same reason I excluded the pockets (a lot of fiddling around with pockets and I didn't think they would be noticeable anyway).

Back detail. (The little hand luuuurves buttons)

Wear detail (it was cold on the day this was taken (despite the sun shining in the background) so a LS tee was worn underneath - the last through the winter version)

So what now, more blogging? Should I do my Christmas cards? Or finish the PJs? Or just veg on the couch watching pointless tv? The possibilities are endless...